Motor vehicles fitted with a diesel engine are increasingly being equipped with a particulate filter to retain the soot particulates which can be produced on combustion of diesel fuel. Often a wall stream filter is used to remove the particulates from the exhaust gas stream from the internal combustion engine. To remove the filtered soot particulates from the wall stream filter again, it is necessary to regenerate the particulate filter.
Wall stream filters which are coated for example with cordierite or silicon carbide (SiC) allow a catalytically supported regeneration. The regeneration can firstly take place passively if the exhaust gas and hence the filter reach a sufficiently high temperature, which can for example occur on predominantly highway use of the motor vehicle. Secondly, if the motor vehicle is operated only under a low load for a lengthy period, an active regeneration can be triggered in which fuel is injected into the exhaust gas and combusted in order to raise its temperature.
DE 10 2009 026 753 A1 indicates an exhaust gas control device for an internal combustion engine which supports a particulate filter of the type described.